Are there any books that you would recommend for just factual history of Islam?
Thanks so much!!
Try The “Enemy at The Gate” a facinating and really well written Book of the Ottomans and their defeat at the Gate of Vienna. It is so well done I have read it at least 4 times over the years. 1683, an Ottoman army that stretched from horizon to horizon set out to seize the Golden Apple, as Turks referred to Vienna. The ensuing siege pitted battle-hardened Janissaries wielding seventeenth-century grenades against Habsburg armies, widely feared for their savagery. The walls of Vienna bristled with guns as the besieging Ottoman host launched bombs, fired cannons, and showered the populace with arrows during the battle for Christianitys bulwark. Each side was sustained by the hatred of its age-old enemy, certain that victory would be won by the grace of God.
The Great Siege of Vienna is the centerpiece for historian Andrew Wheatcrofts richly drawn portrait of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires for control of the European continent. A gripping work by a master historian, The Enemy at the Gate offers a timely examination of an epic clash of civilizations.
I grew up as a teenager living in the Emirates and have always sought to understand the intricacies of that culture. I would forgo Bernard Lewis - too textbook like and Arabist sympathies there.
I second going to Fortress of Faith and downloading their Saturday broadcasts for free. hit info button and mp3 download is available.
A few books I recommend:
(This is a solid and not too difficult read with lots of info - far more than Refuting Islam by Tom Wallace at Fortress of Faith- good stuff there but this is better)
http://www.amazon.com/Islam-Revealed-Christian-Arabs-View/dp/0840730152/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462374965&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=anish+shorrosh
(best overall book to understand the Arab world)
http://www.amazon.com/Closed-Circle-Interpretation-Edward-Burlingame-ebook/dp/B002EVP4V8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462388283&sr=8-1&keywords=closed+circle+jones
If you want to read a good travel book that reveals the desert lifestyle of the Bedouin and the redeeming qualities that come form that lifestyle as opposed to the corruption of the city and modern Arab world separated from Islam in a sense I would recommend
bkmk